Samuel L Jackson: Django Unchained is not about slavery

Samuel L Jackson, star of Django Unchained, talks about growing up watching westerns and whether he’ll be back in Avengers 2.

Did you watch a lot of westerns growing up? There were different kinds of westerns. We had Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Lash LaRue – and then TV had a bunch of westerns. I played cowboys and did all that stuff. I also remember Spaghetti Westerns being different. All of a sudden, people were getting shot in the head. There was not necessarily a well-defined guy in a white hat; even the hero was kind of grungy and strange. The characters were very vivid and the music was very different. It was operatic and trumpets and solos and interesting Spanish guitar.

Can you describe your character in Django Unchained? I consider Stephen a product of his environment. Slavery has been in effect more or less 150 years before you meet him and, as far as he is concerned, it is going to be in effect 150 more. There are certain people who are comfortable in the institution of slavery and there are certain people who are not. Stephen is comfortable in it. If it is black against white, Stephen is a collaborator. OK. But the movie is not about slavery. Even Django is not against slavery. He is just trying to get his girl back.

The film was criticised for the excessive use of the word ‘n*****’… Is Tarantino demonised for this? Is it taken out of context? Really? Did you see any Afro-Americans in the film – or did they have another name to call the people they were talking about at the time? Everybody has their own opinion about how you deal with that but if you are going to deal with the language of the time, you deal with the language of the time. I grew up in the South and heard ‘n*****’ all my life and I am not disturbed by it.

Do you harbour a desire to win an Oscar? I have got a pretty good career and I don’t think that will validate my stature in Hollywood. I have done some pretty interesting things and getting an Oscar is not going to help my box-office record.
Are we going to see you in Avengers 2? I don’t know. They don’t tell me that kind of stuff. All I know is that I am doing Captain America 2. It’s been cool. The Marvel universe continues to grow and get better. I think I have four or five pictures left on my nine-picture deal, so I will just keep showing up.